Right to Life activists accused of harassing voters

Police in Grand Traverse County were called to intervene at two polling places where activists with Grand Traverse Area Right to Life were accused of harassing voters on election day.

The Traverse City Record Eagle reports that Garfield Township Clerk Kay Schumacher called the police Tuesday morning after voters complained that they were followed and harassed by two men after they refused to take Right to Life voting guides outside the Grand Traverse County Department of Public Works Building on LaFranier Road.

“I told them they had to be polite, and if our voters continued to complain we would send the police out there,” Schumacher said. “Usually, the people from Right to Life are very good, very polite. I’ve never had the problem with the rudeness I had this time.”

Complaints continued and a deputy was dispatched, township officials said.

Undersheriff Nathan Alger said deputy Chris Halleck responded at about 9 a.m. and said he didn’t observe illegal behavior. He spoke with the activists and left the polling site. The men’s names were not recorded.

On Tuesday afternoon authorities responded to call at a polling site at First Christian Church on South Airport Road.

Township Deputy Clerk Don Wilcoxen told authorities that voters were complaining the Right to Life Activists were blocking traffic by distributing voter guides to cars in the driveway of the polling place.

Undersheriff Nathan Alger told the Record Eagle that Betty Kunkel, political action committee director for Grand Traverse Area Right to Life, was asked to move away from the road.